A Flicker of Shadows
by XxScarletteAshesxX
Summary: She expected an adventure. Well... she HOPED for one. But what she did not expect was to be turned into an animal. Or kidnapped. Or experimented on. Or any of the other freaky yet horribly exciting things that happened after she escaped her "home". But least of all did she expect to fall in love... especially considering the secret she's keeping... rated T for now.


**Flicker of Shadows**

**A Sonic The Hedgehog Fan-fic by XxScarletteAshesxX**

**Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of its characters or plotlines.**

**Claimer: I do however own my OCs and this particular plotline. Please be warned that stealing my stuff will result in a demonic puppy being sent to devour your insides and/or soul... bwa ha ha ha! I was just kidding! Or was I? O.O... Anyway, enjoy and REVIEW!**

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**Chapter One: The Fall**

Somewhere alone in a moonlit room, a girl sat up in bed. Her alabaster pale legs tangled in clean white sheets and her slender hands rested peacefully in her lap, unmoving, as if they were the hands of a statue. Her long hair rest in masses across her shoulders, plastered to her face, and tangled in her delicate white fingers. But her eyes that gazed longingly out the framed glass window were peaceful and distant, glazed over with visions of faraway places and dreams that had always seemed just out of reach; like the stars that taunted her with their nearness and unattainability. Time and time again, it seemed, she would stretch out her arms and legs, standing on the tips of her toes and spreading her fingers wide, but no matter how hard she tried, they never touched. _**"That's impossible for you." "You'll never make it." "Why don't you just give up already?" "You would do well to forget such frivolous fantasies." **_So many words that floated like an ominous shadow over her head; endless shouts of "you can't do it" and "it's impossible". But her answer was always the same. _Nothing is impossible._

Those three words held more power for her than any others in the world; nothing is impossible. She lived by those words alone, believed in them with every part of her being, and _dreamed_ of the day she would prove them right.

A single blinding flash of light streaked like fire across the sky for only a moment then, disrupting her train of thought, and her eyes widened a fraction in wonder before slowly, a tiny, delicate smile drew itself across her face. _It's a sign_, she decided, _it must be. Today is the day._ Today would be the day she'd make those words come true.

And just like that, the tiny girl untangled herself from the sheets and hopped quietly to the ground. She knelt at her bed, rummaging around in the vast darkness underneath, until her fingers felt the snag of canvas. A grin of excitement replaced its fragile counterpart as she quickly gripped a worn black strap and yanked her shabby messenger bag out from the shadows, packed full with everything she thought she would need; an extra set of clothes, a world map, all the money she'd every earned, (which was exactly fifty bucks), a canteen of water, a compass, strawberry-scented shampoo, a towel, and her old music box. There were also a few granola bars, but she didn't worry about food much; she'd figure it out, when it got to that, and she decided that that wouldn't be for a while since she didn't eat much of anything lately anyhow. Not that she didn't get hungry… food was just a lot less appealing to her than to most people her age… considering… Besides, she moved much quicker when she wasn't stuffed with all kinds of whatnot.

Quickly and quietly she slipped to the closet and took out the coil of rope she'd borrowed from the theater room the week before. Then she tip-toed to the door, opening it a crack to peek out into the dark hallway, making sure no one was patrolling nearby. Seeing that there wasn't, she clicked the door shut and went back to the bed, tying off one end of the rope to her headboard and then opening the window to toss out the rest. She had to admit, going out the third-story window probably wasn't the safest bet she'd ever made, but she knew that even if she managed to sneak all the way down to the front door without alerting the guards or waking anybody up, the front door was always under heavy surveillance; if she got within even five feet of it, she'd be sure to set of tons of alarms, and then she'd be caught quicker than you could say 'blink'.

She may have been a bit naïve, but she definitely wasn't stupid. She knew what getting caught would mean for her; the end of everything. It had taken so long to get everyone to trust her enough that she even had the _chance_ to escape. If they caught her now, she would be locked away again, put under firm surveillance for the rest of her life, and that would be it. So out the third-story window it was. At least she was using a good, thick piece of rope instead of tying a bunch of sheets together like they always did in the movies; anyone with half a brain could tell that would _never_ work.

So, taking a deep, nervous breath, the girl rubbed her sweating palms dry on her white dress and wound a bit of the rope around her hands before stepping out the window and clenching the rest between her boots and ankles. Then, slowly, she began to lower herself down, already trembling at the pain that was growing in her muscles. She ignored it though, knowing that letting go would mean instant death and being altogether too stubborn to climb back up while she had the chance. _For once,_ she thought with an amused smirk, _I'm glad I way so little._

And she kept at it, moving slowly, but surely down until at last, she felt her feet touch the top of the bushes. Smiling happily, she dropped into the bushes with a barely audible thud. Kneeling on one knee, she paused for a moment to listen just in case, then stood, readjusted her messenger-bag on her hip, and went quickly on her way. Thankfully, her room was centered directly above the entrance to the deepest part of the garden; The tall, thick foliage and wildly growing bushes sprouted in abundance there, due to years of neglect, so one didn't have do much more than crouch down a bit to hide themselves from view. This was lucky, since, although there weren't many, there were a few guards who patrolled the area, just in case someone managed to sneak by the others and bypass the elaborate alarm systems; someone like her.

But she definitely would not get caught, not matter what; she'd scouted nearly three weeks ahead, taking note of any possible exits or hiding places, where cameras or alarms were located, and memorizing the guard shifts that had the least number of people making rounds in the area she planned to escape from; that escape area being a small hole in the outer wall of the compound. She'd discovered it during one of her weekly trips outdoors with the rest of the children in her wing. She'd almost gotten caught by one of the orderlies, but had narrowly escaped notice by pretending to accidently get lost while stretching her legs. The hole itself was slightly hard to find, especially in the dark, since it was buried behind the thick, twisted roots of an old oak that had stubbornly refused to grow _away_ from the wall and had instead grown _into_ it over the years. The roots and branches had grown into the cracks in the concrete, splitting it and causing large portions of it to fall away while holding everything else so tightly together, one wouldn't notice the small crawl space near the base of the tree. She'd barely noticed it herself the first time, only having seen it because she'd tripped and landed with her face looking right through it. So she tied a white ribbon around the lowest branch of the tree, hoping that she'd be able to spot it in the slight light of the moon that peeked through the foliage on clear nights.

Knowing this, she walked with her head tilted up slightly, staring closely at the branches overhead until her gaze caught the flutter of a pale outline against the dark of the trees. She stopped dead for a moment, her heart giving a painful stutter in her chest before picking up double time with excitement, a wide smile lighting her face as her eyes glittered with anticipation. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm a bit so that her heart would not falter before quickly reaching up to untie the snow colored ribbon with a slightly shaking hand, delicately folding the keepsake and placing it in her messenger bag so no one would see it and know where she had gone.

Carefully and quietly she knelt, lifting her messenger bag off of her shoulders and lightly pushing it through ahead of her. _This is it… once I pass through… there's no going back. I don't know what I'll find on the other side, and I don't know if I'll get what I wished for, but one way or another, I'm leaving this all behind. _She took a deep breath, swallowed her heart, and gave a smile, preparing to crawl through before pausing a moment in thought. _I wonder if Alice really _fell_ down the rabbit hole. _She wondered, dropping onto her hands and knees. She pondered it, pausing for a moment before smiling again. _No. Alice didn't _fall_ into wonderland. Alice _jumped_._ And with that thought, she bent her head and crawled through the hole, forever giving up the life of her past.

Coming out the other side, she suddenly found herself in the deepest part of the forest that surrounded the compound. The foliage was even denser here than it was in the garden, so dense in fact, that she couldn't walk more than two steps in any direction without running face first into the hulking trunk of a tree; so dense, that no moonlight could get through the branches to light her way… Apprehension bubbled uneasily in her stomach, and for the first time she wondered if she'd made the right decision in escaping…

She could feel eyes on her, watching her from just out of sight… images of disgusting, twisted things, pieces of rusted metal and bone protruding from their limbs and backs popped into her head. Every rustle of leaves or twisted figure of a tree in the dark gave another gruesome seed of thought. She turned then, shifting anxiously as she glanced at the hole she'd came from… then it hit her just how stupid she would be to go back now.

_Idiot! _She thought, scowling and shaking the traitorous thoughts from her head. _No way am I backing down now! I've come this far already; I refuse to turn back just because of a little darkness! _She clenched her fists, nodding determinedly as she swallowed her pounding heart, swung her pack on, and continued into the darkness, letting her resolve push her each step. She ignored the fear that still slid its cold fingers down her spine, focusing on keeping her heart from beating too fast. _This isn't that bad. Not bad at all. This is no problem. _She thought, swallowing against her suddenly dry throat as she walked past a particularly strange-shaped shadow. _Though… it might have been a good idea to bring a flashlight…_

All thoughts of the darkness dissipated almost instantly as the sound of a distant siren reached her ears, setting her on high alert. _No… they've realized my absence much sooner than I thought they would. This isn't good._ She quickened her pace, all thoughts of her fear forgotten as she ducked low branches and leapt over large roots and fallen trees, her mouth tightened in a hard line, her brow furrowed in worry that beat at her surprisingly calm heart. By the sound of it, she was a good mile from the compound, but she needed to get much farther fast if she didn't want to get caught. She knew that others had tried to escape before… and she knew that none had ever been successful. She had to be successful.

Still the forest seemed to go on and on, an endless maze of dark shadows and hulking figures giving rise to an endlessly growing panic slowly making its way from her stomach, to her lungs, to her heart and to her mind. Still she forced her heart to beat steadily, slowly, the way she had taught herself to when she decided she was going to escape. But endless worries beat at her mind as she listened to the wailing of the siren, _What if I'm going in a big circle? What if the forest never ends? What if they catch me? What if…_

Then she saw it.

It was small at first, barely a flicker through the trees, like a white-flamed candle passing by in the distance. But then it grew. The trees slowly but surely began to spread out, to dwindle and thin until she caught a glance of the pure white moon, full and blossoming just beyond the trees. It was not the edge of the forest, she knew that much, but it was something… something she could not describe. There, just beyond some trees, was a strange sort of light, very faint but noticeably white. At first she thought it was radiating from the moon, but quickly realized it was much too bright for that, and suddenly, intense curiosity gripped her.

Cautiously she stepped into the small clearing, slight fear overweighing curiosity before a sudden burst of excitement made her move quickly again. Just outside the looming darkness of the forest was a small grassy meadow, at the center of which was a delicately glistening pond. Towering directly over the pond was the biggest willow tree she had ever seen, its long, limp branches softly stroking the top of the pool and leaving tender ripples in its surface as they swayed in the soft breeze. It was like a scene from a fairy-tale; everything seemed to be lit up, the entire meadow aglow with threads of silvery moonlight that danced upon the shallow pool and swirled among the leaves of the willow. But her eyes were not drawn to any of that. No, she was staring at the thing lying on the ground just under a tall weeping willow, looking like a piece of the moon itself that had broken off and fell to earth. It glowed with this pure, hypnotic sort of light, and before she knew it, she was walking towards it, her eyes wide with excitement and awe as she gazed at its soothing glow. She knelt next to the light, her heart suddenly pounding with unbridled anticipation as she slowly reached out to touch it.

Whatever the thing was, it was huge, about as big as both of her fists put together, and it sparkled like a diamond but shown millions of colors like an opal, rays of light shining out in every direction. Like a fallen star. But holding it… it gave her a warm feeling inside, strange but happy, like music. _Beautiful… but… what in the world is it? I've never seen anything like it before—_**Crack! **

She leapt to her feet, unconsciously bringing the strange stone close to her chest as she whirled around, her heart pounding in her throat as she felt the instinctual fight or flight prepare to take control. But there was nothing there to run from or fight. Hesitantly, she stepped out of the shadow of the tree and into the silvery light of the moon, swallowing her fear and setting her face defiantly.

"Who's there?" She tried to say it loud, bravely and intimidating, but the words, as always, caught painfully in her throat and came out as a barely audible whisper of air. _Damn… I forgot about that__for a moment, _she paused, wincing and biting her tongue against the urge to cough, before turning her gaze upon the tree line she had just emerged from. There was nothing but empty blackness, but… she couldn't help the sudden apprehension building in her chest and couldn't seem to tear her gaze away; like something was holding her there, like she was waiting for something.

Her stance stiffened unconsciously, her breath caught in her throat, and then… _something_ emerged. _What-what the hell is __**that**__?_ She thought, her eyes widening in horror at the monster in front of her. It was almost unrecognizable, besides the cruel white fangs protruding viciously from an overly large opening in what she assumed was its face and darkness seemed to leak off its pitch skin or fur, like it was made of living shadows. Its eyes were glowing venomous purple orbs and rune-like markings of the same glowing color split the shadows of its muscular body all over. The hands sported clawed fingers that seemed sharp as knives, spines covered its hunched back, and two twisted horns extended form its bulky head.

For a long moment, it seemed to stare at the young girl, as if in contemplation, before its horrible purple eyes narrowed at her and it hissed angrily, a yellow forked tongue flicking out from the hole of its mouth. Startled, she stumbled backwards, the thick smell of sulfur filling her senses like sickening smog. _That… what the __**hell**__ is that!_ She screamed again in her mind, her eyes wide with horror and disgust, her knuckles white with the effort of clutching the stone in her hand, forgotten in the wake of the creature. Terror shook her to her core and she froze as it _slithered_ towards her on legs that bent the wrong way, its clawed hands reaching for her menacingly before its horrible mouth opened wide and an ear-splitting roar shook the ground she stood on. Fear seized her pounding heart as shadows suddenly slunk in from all sides, surrounding her with twisted things that gnashed their teeth at her and hissed and shrieked, their hands all reaching for her as they closed in slowly. _What do I do? Oh… god… WHAT DO I DO?_ She screamed, clutching the stone tightly to her chest with both hands. The things kept coming, their eyes calling out to her, _**Give… give… want… take… kill.**_They hissed.

Rage filled her suddenly to her core, tears of fury rolling down her cheeks in rivers as she surveyed the approaching menaces. _No… not yet. I won't die yet! I didn't spend all that time trapped in that place just to die the moment I finally escape!_

"_N0!" _ Her voice rang out loud and clear as daylight, echoing among the trees and sending the creatures into a panic. Her eyes widened in shock.

And as they leapt at her, everything went white…

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_**"Hey! Hey you! Come on! Wake up! Open your eyes! HEY!"**_ I groaned, shifting uncomfortably at the ache in my chest. It felt like I'd been punched by an elephant on steroids…

_**"Sonic! She moved! Do you think she'll be alright?" **__Sonic? _I thought, my mind diluted with an almost drugged cloudiness as I tried to comprehend what was being said around me. _Who in the name of—? Oh, who gives a flying monkey poop… I think I'm about to kick the proverbial bucket… I should be significantly more disturbed by that thought than I am. _

_**"I don't know… Hey, Kid, can you hear me? Kid! Darn… It looks like she might be out for a while, Tails." **__First Sonic, now Tails. What is _up_ with these names? Who would actually name their kids that sort of thing? Oh, who am I to talk… I'm named after a smoldering pile of ashes… _I paused, suddenly losing the train of thought as if it were a thread that was yanked from my grasp. _Why do I care again…? Geez, my head hurts…_

_**"Maybe we should move her or something… It might be dangerous for her to lie in the middle of a field like this… especially with Eggman running around doing who knows what. What do you think, Sonic?" **__Who in the name of fire-breathing turtles is "Eggman"? _

_**"Yeah, you're right— hey, wait, what is that?" **__"What is that?" What is—_

_**"—what?" **__ 'Cut me off, but, yes, what is what?_

I suddenly felt the shift of fabric on my chest, a light tug on the material so that I could feel a soft brush of air on the very top of my chest, not too low as to expose anything, but just so that the space directly over where my heart should be was uncovered. I heard an audible gasp, almost bringing me to full consciousness before the dullness in my mind dragged me back down under again. _**"That."**__ Uhnnn… my chest hurts… what's going on, what is "that"?_

_ "__**S-Sonic, th-that looks like a…" **_I knew something was very wrong now. I could feel it and nervousness gripped me, my mind slowly clearing of the almost sedated dullness and being replaced by unimaginable anxiety.

_**"I know…" **_I fought to wake up now, slowly but surely towing my dulled consciousness to the surface as they spoke once more in unison.

_**"A Chaos Emerald."**_

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**OH SNAP! Did I just leave a cliffhanger? Actually... I'm really, really not sure, and not even joking about that... _Is_ this considered a cliffhanger?**

**I wish to know. So you peoples should REVIEW!XD And give me your opinions!**

**Also, a warning, I have a problem with jumping subjects when writing fan-ficition. So if I randomly stop doing chapters on this for a while and suddenly I'm writing another fan-fiction entirely... don't be surprised. But I always come back to subjects, so, unless I have LIFE OR DEATH issues, I'll definitly come back to this eventually. Same goes for any other fan-fiction I am writing.**

**Till next time,**

**XxScarletteAshesxX**


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